The San Antonio Fire Department is now home to Platform 1, an all Aluminum 100-foot Pierce aerial platform ladder truck.

This vehicle has a negative 11 degree angle for the ladder, which means it will be used not only to fight fires, but if the truck is on higher ground, the ladder can actually be lowered below the truck for rescue operations.

This truck is capable of flowing over 2,000-gpm. At a cost of about $995,000, the aerial has a gross vehicle weight rating of 80,000 and has the ability to carry six firefighters at a time.

The platform has been in service at Fire Station 1, located east of downtown San Antonio, since February and has already received plenty of use.